Love Crime

Ruthless executive Christine brings on Isabelle as her assistant, and she takes delight in toying with the young woman's innocence. But when the protégé's ideas become tempting enough for Christine to pass on as her own, she underestimates Isabelle's ambition and cunning -- and the ground is set for all out war.

For more about Love Crime and the Love Crime Blu-ray release, see Love Crime Blu-ray Review published by Dr. Svet Atanasov on July 15, 2013 where this Blu-ray release scored 3.0 out of 5.

Love Crime Blu-ray Review

French director Alain Corneau's "Crime d'amour" a.k.a "Love Crime" (2010) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Arrow Films. The only supplemental feature on this release is an original theatrical trailer for the film. In French, with optional English subtitles for the main feature. Region-B "locked".

I really like you...

I think that I am one of only a few people that like French director Alain Corneau's Le deuxieme souffle a.k.a The Second Wind more than the film that inspired it. The original film
was directed by Jean-Pierre Melville in 1966. It is about an aging gangster, played by the legendary Lino Ventura, who escapes from jail and then decides to do one last job before he leaves the country with the woman he loves. It is a very atmospheric film with plenty of terrific one-liners. But, in my opinion, Corneau's film is better. In it Gu, the aging gangster, is played by another great actor, Daniel Auteuil, while Manouche, the woman he loves, is played by the lovely Monica Bellucci. The entire film is shot with a heavy yellow filter that gives it a very stylish retro look. It also has one of the most elegant soundtracks I've heard in recent years. The film did not get a lot of enthusiastic reviews in France, but I think that if the great Jose Giovanni could have seen it he would have liked it as much as I did.

Director Corneau passed away in 2010, only a week after his final film Crime d'amour a.k.a Love Crime opened in theaters across France. In 2012, Brian De Palma directed Passion, which was inspired by Love Crime.

Love Crime and Passion share some common themes, but I would not call De Palma's film a remake. It is more like Corneau's Le deuxieme souffle - it has its own identity and a style that is very different from that of the film that inspired it.

Both films are about young and ambitious women working in a large corporation where people always smile and seem eager to help each other but can't wait for a good opportunity to seriously hurt their opponents. In both films there are love confessions. In both films a person is murdered. This is, however, where the similarities between them end.

In Corneau's film the ambitious women are played by Kristin Scott Thomas and Ludivine Sagnier. The former is Christine, a very intelligent executive who desperately wants a position in the company's prestigious New York office. The latter is Isabelle, an energetic and also very intelligent professional young woman whose only goal is to be the best at what she does for her boss - Christine. The film follows closely the deteriorating relationship between Christine and Isabelle as they pursue their dreams and eventually realize that success never comes without failure.

In De Palma's film the focus of attention is on the 'failure'. The American director uses a lot of its classic tricks to show that life in the upper echelons of the corporate world could be extremely dangerous. His film is structured as a thriller, but there are important moral lessons in it that actually push it into an entirely different territory.

Passion is also a more glamorous film. In it there are larger and flashier parties, more extravagant apartments looking like futuristic museums, and definitely more seductive looks. Love Crime often looks like a theater play. It is still quite elegant, but it feels sterile, at times also too mechanical.

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1/85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Alain Corneau's Love Crime arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of British distributors Arrow Films.

Excluding some extremely light compression artifacts which will likely remain unnoticed by most viewers, the presentation is indeed very impressive. Virtually all close-ups boast outstanding depth (see screencapture #7). Larger shots also convey superb clarity. Contrast levels remain stable throughout the entire film. Colors are warm and stable, never looking artificially boosted. There are absolutely no traces of problematic post-production corrections. There are no serious transfer-specific anomalies either. When projected, the film also remains tight around the edges. there is no random flicker either. To sum it all up, this very recent French film certainly looks quite wonderful on Blu-ray. (Note: This is a Region-B "locked" Blu-ray disc. Therefore, you must have a native Region-B or Region-Free PS3 or SA in order to access its content).

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: French DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1. For the record, Arrow Films have provided optional English subtitles for the main feature.

The lossless track will not test the muscles of your audio system, but if you appreciate nuanced dynamics it is guaranteed to impress you. Even seemingly casual conversations sound remarkably crisp, allowing one to immediately notice even very small changes in the voices of the people in front of the camera. There are only a few sequences, however, where Pharoah Sanders' jazzy soundtrack is felt. The English translation is excellent.

Love Crime is a fine thriller, but I think that the film it inspired is far more effective. If possible see both, but consider adding Passion to your collections. Arrow Films' technical presentation of Love Crime is excellent. My only complaint here is the lack of meaningful supplemental features. It would have been nice to have at least one interview with Alain Corneau or a small featurette focusing on his life and career. RENT IT.

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